Boys basketball: Highland beats Tallmadge to take full control of SL American race

TALLMADGE — The Highland boys basketball team refused to let a golden opportunity slip through its fingers no matter how hard Tallmadge tried to rip it away. As a result, the defending champion Hornets took firm control of the Suburban League American Conference race with a 48-40 victory over the Blue Devils on Friday night. Highland (9-2, 8-0) now has a three-game lead on the rest of the SL American with six games to play after the win over Tallmadge (6-6, 5-3), which entered the night in second place. "Going into it we knew we needed this one," guard Carson Cope said. "We knew it was going to be tough, but we found a way to win it. Going up three games in the league this far into the season is huge." Cope scored eight of his 15 points in a decisive fourth quarter to match teammate Joshua Butcher for scoring honors. Cope drained back-to-back buckets to give Highland its largest lead at 43-31 with 3:38 to play. Blue Devils guard Chad Rusinko attempted to put his team on his back and carry Tallmadge across the finish line. The junior scored six straight points before Robbie Reid III drained a 3-pointer to make it a one-possession game at 43-40 with 1:48 left. Rusinko finished with a team-high 14 points and four rebounds, while Reid had 13 points and six boards. No one else for the Blue Devils scored more than five points. With its back to the wall, Highland turned up the intensity on defense. Jameson Gordon (6 points, 8 rebounds) came up with a huge block when Rusinko drove into a crowd left of the paint, and Nick Dobkowski got a steal from Rusinko on the next possession. "We've been in a lot of those (close) games, so we know what it feels like," Dobkowski said. "Honestly, we just did our job (defensively). There were a few possessions where we didn't do our jobs, so we just had to get back into the rhythm defensively." Dobkowski also had one block, three rebounds and two assists. Offensively, Butcher made 3-of-4 free throws — he was 5-of-6 on the night — and Cope made one final bucket to stretch the lead back out. Point guard Jake Weber played a well-balanced game with nine points, three rebounds and six assists. Rusinko caused Highland trouble early, accounting for all the points in an 8-2 run in the first quarter that gave the Blue Devils a 10-6 lead with 2:35 left in the period. After some strong adjustments, the Hornets were able to hold him scoreless until his outburst in the fourth quarter. "We knew he was their guy," Cope said. "We had to game plan against him a little bit and not let him get going. I feel like we showed that pretty good tonight." Along with his points, Butcher grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds to finish with a double-double. He scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half. His efforts on the glass led to a 37-27 advantage, with Gordon and Cope (7) also being key contributors. "I just took what came my way," Butcher said. "I got a couple of good looks in the third quarter and I just tried to put myself in the best position to grab rebounds. First quarter, I wasn't happy with how I was crashing the boards, so I worked on that the rest of the game." Highland went on a 7-0 run from the end of the first quarter until midway through the second to grab a 15-12 lead and went into the locker room up 22-21 at halftime. The Hornets then started the second half on a 9-1 run, including four points from Gordon, the second two of which gave Highland a 31-22 lead until the Blue Devils scored their first bucket of the quarter on a 3-pointer by Reid with 2:09 left. "Coach (Tanner) Houska put in a solid game plan from the start and he just reminded us of it at halftime," Butcher said. "We just executed and did what we needed to do coming out of halftime." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Highland 48, Tallmadge 40 HIGHLAND 9 13 13 13 — 48 TALLMADGE 12 9 7 12 — 40 Highland — Joshua Butcher 5-5-15, Nick Dobkowski 0-0-0, Jameson Gordon 3-0-6, Carson Cope 7-1-15, Jake Weber 4-1-9, Conner Dean 0-0-0, Colin Goldie 1-0-3, Ashton Gleba 0-0-0. TOTALS: 20-7-48. Tallmadge — Robbie Reid III 5-0-13, Anthony Bontempo 0-0-0, Luke Strate 0-0-0, Chad Rusinko 6-2-14, Caleb Kendrick 2-0-5, Chase Christ 1-1-3, Kaden Heller 1-1-3, Andreas Carr 1-0-2. TOTALS: 16-4-40. 3-point goals — Goldie, Reid 3, Kendrick. Rebounds — Highland 37 (Butcher 13), Tallmadge 27 (Bontempo 9). Assists — Highland 11 (Weber 6), Tallmadge 8 (Strate 3). Records — Highland (9-2, 8-0), Tallmadge (6-6, 5-3). Junior varsity — Tallmadge 52, Highland 50 (H: Jackson Robertson 19).